OpEd by R.T. Fitch ~ Author/President of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
Lack of Interest, Qualifications, Concern Permeate Wild Horse Adversary Board
Once again, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) special interest “Advisory Board” meeting is over and the fat lady has sung…won’t divulge her name but she IS on the BLM payroll and the out-of-tune song was something like “Tomorrow” with a few expletives added.
I share a degree of guilt for not being present to personally feel, first hand, the pain and experience the chill as lie after lie was rained down upon the last of our native wild horses and burros but simply viewing it on my computer screen was almost more than one could handle. It’s not simply emotion that drives my contempt but the burning desire and need to see our federal employees perform their jobs with honor, dignity and grace; but this is not possible when you are caught in so many lies that you cannot even remember what you said last.
The BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board is a hand-picked nucleus of volunteer special interest personalities with obvious and direct ties to cattle, grazing and hunting without one knowledgeable wild equine advocate amongst them. This club is headed by a chairperson who heads a misty and clouded organization of dubious reputation that is currently under investigation from many different angles. And it is this team of anti-equid individuals that is tasked with advising the biggest grazing company in the free world, the BLM, on what should be done to help preserve our federally protected wild horses and burros? Please excuse me while my head totally spins off into oblivion.
Just a few high, opps, low points:
Strategy Briefing by Dean Bolstad; What can I say; as usual a very poorly constructed PowerPoint presentation with incorrect numbers, outlandish misinterpretation of the law and even Dean lost his place and train of thought on three separate occasions. (remember, when you tell lies it is difficult to remember what you said last) A total mess and something that would never, never stand up in the real world. Slam corporations all you want but if anyone from my staff delivered something so poorly contrived and with such lack of skill in delivery we would be having a very serious discussion as to their future within my team.
Litigation Update by, again, Dean Bolstad; Perhaps one of the most important issues the Board should be concerned with and it is just glossed over without even a question. If I were on an advisory board where our company was being sued every which way but lose I would want to know WHAT were the issues and if there was any substantial evidence to lend credence to the suits. This group of grazers could care less, not a peep. ‘We do what we do cuz we can do it and da rest of you be damned”, how stupid can you be? The bulk of said litigation comes to the BLM and the DoI courtesy of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation (WHFF) funded exclusively by concerned American taxpayers.
Comprehensive Animal Welfare Program; This thing deems a very outspoken, “Give me a friggen break”. This concept is a direct attempt to dilute and weakly answer the “Humane Care” law suit brought forward by plaintiff Laura Leigh, agent for the WHFF. The BLM is, now, required to answer the inhumane allegations and is attempting to trump up some sort of “straw man” defense but I don’t think in a million years that a federal judge will fall for it. To date, I have never seen a more poorly written proposal than what was displayed. Form and structure alone pulls it out of any contemporary proposal/component model template and it’s context could have been better written by an 8th grader; all the while the term “internal review” is so pervasive it reads like a blinking fairy tale. I won’t even go into WHO they put in charge of this overt attempt to dilute our “Humane Care” law suit but when you put the person in charge of the contracts over the contractors that are in question and make that same government employee responsible for “Humane Care”…arrrgghhhhhh, is it just me?!?!?
Again, sorry for the lack of coverage on this stage show but we did have our Ginger, Bonnie, Val, Jan, Deniz and Suzanne there giving it their best, my hat is most sincerely tipped to these brave and honorable women.
Tomorrow: Yesterday we made a personal trip out to visit with the Wild Burro Lady, Marjorie Farabee, and her dozens of rescued burros, donkeys, mules and horses…you won’t want to miss it.
Related articles
- BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory “Bored” Meeting (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- BLM MUST Answer Inhumane Wild Horse Handling Allegations (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- NY Times Climbs into Bed with BLM, AGAIN (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- AAEP Released Diluted Report on BLM Wild Horse Mismanagment (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- New BLM Wild Horse and Burro Honcho Sends Advocates Into Twilight Zone (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Nominations Allegedly Open for BLM Special Interest Board (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
